Cow and its calf at Kites' Nest farm, Stokenhill

I had to make an executive decision today to delay the report we are producing. It will only be for three more weeks but it is vital we wait for the latest and most accurate advice. I then had to circulate the decision and then deal with several other legal issues, all done on a voluntary basis. I must be mad.

So having gained a small respite, I decided to go and visit John W. at his house near Whiteshill. I had bumped into his wife Liz a few days ago and she told me that his 'big' project had received good news and that he was off to Germany to meet the interested party, a major lens producer! The sun was shining and the air was warm and the sense of spring now seems permanent. A few trees are budding and the landscape is gradually turning greener, with the grass growing a t a rate of knots.

On my way out of their house I drove along the farm track leading back to the road and saw two cows with their calves in the field. I stopped and grabbed my camera to take this picture. It is looking south-east across the Painswick valley towards Wick Street, sometimes called Painswick Old Road, the ancient route which winds northwards along the valley side. It is running at about the same height as I was standing. Near the top of the hill is Hawkwood, where there is a college dedicated to providing teaching and short courses in the arts, health & well being. On the far side of that hill is the Slad Valley which is also one of the five valleys which all meet at Stroud.

I love to see calves and this one decided to get a meal from its mum just as I started to take some pictures. I'm not delighted by the framing but it does show the land, the sky and the subject all in one shot. The field is just beside the farm, which allows the farmer to easily check on their newly born animals.